[Graded][closed] Birth of Death

[TyDie]

Sakaki was up way past her bedtime today, and so soon after her full fledged graduation from the academy too. She wasn't used to being out at this time of night, and even less so was she used to being alone at this time of night. She had to admit, despite how tough she tried to act, she was kind of scared walking through the village streets. A shudder went down her spine as the thick cloak she wore bellowed in a small gust of wind. "Brr... Hot in the morning, cold at night. I don't like night, I wish we could bathe in Her Light all the time." The thoughts helped keep her mind off the creepiness of walking around a dark and quiet village, but not by much.

Why was she out here, at the darkest part of the desert night? An order, apparently. Her first as a full fledged shinobi, to arrive at a specified location dictated by the scroll handed to her by a masked shinobi. 'Come to the administration building at night, enter the front door and take a left down the hall. All will be made clear.' That was all the scroll said, along with a name and rank: Saisuke, Zao: Jounin of Sunagakure. If the creepy night wasn't enough to unnerve the young genin, the rank of the scroll's author sure did. Why would a 10 year old genin, green as can be, be summoned to the admin building in the dead of night by one of the most reputable jounin in the village?

Soon she'd have her answers, as the young girl arrived at the administration building and found a single, masked shinobi standing guard out front. He addressed her plainly and quietly. 'Izamani, Sakaki?' She couldn't even verbally respond, giving only a small, scared nod. 'Relax...' The man's voice softened ever so slightly, and he placed a hand on her shoulder, causing her to visibly relax. 'You aren't in trouble. All will be made clear soon. Follow me.' The man would then enter the building, and Sakaki would follow close behind as he weaved through the various halls of the building to some long forgotten corner. With a hand to the wall and a small bit of chakra, the man unlocked a single fuuinjutsu seal and part of the wall opened up, revealing a secret passage. On the wall was a torch for light, which he grabbed before leading the way down several steps into a cavern.

The cavern opened up into a large clearing of rock, with a large door. In front of this door was various shinobi, all wearing masks. The man who had lead her down gestured to a seat. 'please, sit. He will come shortly. Then you will have answers.' The fear re surged as Sakaki took her seat, surrounded by all of these eerie sights and things she had never before imagined took place in shinobi life. She was trained to fight, to heal, and to support... this didn't seem to fit any of those categories.

What was going on?

[Zao]

Within the depth of his own home, a basement like laboratory could be found at Zao's home. It had numerous strange looking artifacts that the scholar and adventurer had collected on his travels through both this world and the various spirit realms that he'd discovered. But the man's thin frame, gentle appearance, and soft looking tattooed hands seemed to be very different than one might expect of such a well traveled figure. Though the majority of his travels had not been during his time as a shinobi but during his time away from the village but upon his return to duty he'd mainly been tasked to utilize his own skills in the Tenku art to deal with a number of spirit challenges that had strangely arisen. And then their was also the strange and mysterious country of Juu that his brother in arms Li and himself had been investigating for sometime with very little returned in regards to answers to the questions they had went there with...only more questions.

It was not uncommon for the white haired man to be up so late, normally finding himself lost in reading or deciphering old history books or scroll yet tonight he could be found writing on a number of fuuin tags. The pen brush in the slender finger of the right hand moved with majestic precision, a tell of the level of skill the man possessed in the art of fuuinjutsu and calligraphy, the ink smoothly placed across the blank tag as a complex design slowly came to life before his eyes. A few minutes later the man removed the tip of the brush from the surface of the thick parchment and gently placed it back into a small jar of ink, allowing or it to rest in the jar a he smiled softly. "It's time." The bright blue eyes of the middle aged man had shifted onto his right wrist, one of the handful of bracelets on that arm had started to glow faintly with cyan hue chakra that caused for it to be warm to the touch.

It was a special piece of space-time jewelry that he had devised to allow for him to communicate with others over a long distance, but it wasn't just that but also a marker in space for him to be able to teleport to as well. This was something that he only gave to those special to him that he wished to protect with his life. Exhaling slowly the man pushed back the chair he had been setting in and took a moment to straighten out his flowing white robes as the sleeves fell down to conceal all but the tips of the fingers tips on either hand. Sky blue chakra outlined the man as he channeled chakra and briefly closed his bright eyes allowing for him to focus on the position of the other bracelet in space. Suddenly space-time warped around Zao's body causing for it to twist and distort before the man vanished completely from his home.

Directly in front of the rookie genin, to the right side of the man who had greeted her the space itself suddenly trembled and warped around itself before a dark portal opened up. The portal itself seemed to open up into an abyss of darkness only lit by distant stars. From within this starscape image stepped a white robed figure with long which hair that ran down the length of his back and was only tied back in a loose ponytail fashion. "So you've arrived, Sakaki-chan." The bannin level shinobi's eyes instantly descended down upon the seated genin only a few meters away from him as the space behind him twisted in onto itself and quickly returned to normal as though nothing had happened. Zao's voice was very soft and had a warm tone to it, much like always, as he spoke upon his arrival to the secret location and a light wave gesture of the tattooed left hand accompanied his words.

The man's bright blue eyes seemed to be staring into the genin's very soul, this was the chosen host of the rather difficult genma. During the graduation exams of the academy the man had secretly been screen the chakra of all the participants to find the best suited host for the rather terrifying spirit who often corrupted its host and this would be the third host in truly only a short handful of years. But perhaps this one would be different, or at least he hoped so now. From his experiment the young girl before him had a uniqueness about her chakra soul, it was compatible with the Soul genma's own unique chakra. Perhaps this time would be the rise of another powerful host and weapon for the village in these rather turbulent times. "I will get straight to the point. I have chosen you from all the other shinobi in our village to become one of our most powerful tools. To protect her and the Light."

Both of Zao's hands lifted lightly from the side as he spoke, a certain passion in his voice as the palms of each hand turned upward, the young girl before him would be faced with death today and he needed for the green ninja to understand that this was for the greatness of the village and the will of the Light. "I have returned to the village with Shishire no Shigenma, you Izamani Sakaki are to be his next host. To protect the Light you will have to be infused with the darkness and overcome it. Can you do this, even if it may result in your own demise?" The normal gentle smile turned flat and a serious demeanor temporarily replaced the man's traditional aura as he spoke towards the child...would she be able to truly comprehend the meaning of his words to her?

[TyDie]

As the swirling mass of chakra opened up into starry darkness, Sakaki's fear increased and a sense of dread overcame her. Never before had she seen such ninjutsu, it was terrifying... but also fascinating. Not long after the portal took shape, a white haired man walked through it and greeted her. Although he never introduced himself, Sakaki could only assume the man before her was the same who had summoned her. That little bit of information, that one straw to grasp onto, was enough for her to take a deep breath, let it out, and regain composure. "Uh huh, that's me. But, Mr. Saisuke, what do you want from me? This is all so... so weird."

It wasn't long before she had answers, although the poor girl had no idea what Zao was truly talking about. All she understood was that this man, Zao-sama, was offering her some sort of weapon that could allow her to protect the village in ways no other shinobi could. The part about her maybe dying was scary of course, but even a young genin like her had heard all the speeches going through the academy. 'shinobi life was dangerous, and could even kill you if you aren't ready for it.' Many times she had gone through those talks, and it only reaffirmed her decision to stay with her training. She did it... because she didn't want anyone else to. And because she knew she could.

Determination flared in her eyes as she made her decision, and she shot a fierce smile at Zao. "I might be young, Zao-sama... But don't underestimate me! I can do this, I was born to do this!" The accord had been struck, the die cast... Now came the hard part.

[Zao]

The man's slender, tattoo covered hands fully revealed their selves before beginning a soft, slow clap of applause for the little genin before him. Those at this age were always filled with vigor to protect and serve but normally this was because they had never been forced to make a difficult decision that could cost one of their friends their life in order to complete a vital mission for the village. His formerly stern and serious appearance suddenly disappeared as the hands broke apart and fell back into place on either side of the bannin now. "It would seem that my senses were correct in selecting you. But understand that what comes next will test your mind and body like nothing you have even dreamed of..."

Zao's words were once more soft spoken, a hint of concern contained on the man's thin lips as he exhaled slowly thinking about the difficulty of the task that lay before himself and the child. The sealing process had so many places during which the host could loose themselves or the spiritual beast could completely devour their soul. High rewards were almost always associated with high risk. Readjusting himself mentally the man turned gracefully as the loose robes twisted around the man's lean frames now and he approached the fuuin cover stone wall that had been behind him.

Those same slender, almost feminine fingers twisted together in what could only be seen as a blur to even the other masked figure positioned around the room. They flashing hand seals took about ten seconds to finish before visible chakra leaked from the man's body causing him to briefly appear as some sort of divine entity as the man then reached out. The chakra that had bee. Leaking from his body was channeled into the right hand as it stretched out, the amount of raw chakra contained in it giving off a near suffocating pressure to those near the man. As soon as the chakra coated hand touch the ancient looking wall numerous diagrams began to light up and a five meter doorway appeared in the solid stone.

From within a eerie crimson glow spread out into the room, the level of built up Tenku based chakra from the warding fuuin with even caused for his two spirit pets concealed on either forearm to shiver slightly. As the spiritual chakra washed over the man who became bathed in the maroon light, he simply closed his eyes to take in the feeling. Only a simple hand gesture was made by the bannin as the numerous shadows who had been lurking with the stone cavern moved in unison. Fifteen masked shinobi in total flooded the room taking up positions that were marked with prayer mats covered with fuuin that connected to one another spread out in a particular pattern. "Follow me little one."

Glancing over his right shoulder, a soft smile upon his lips Zao started to casually walk forward amongst the chaos of moving parts in the room as he called out for his companion to follow. "All these people are here to help contain and weaken the power of the Soul genma. Without their help it would be to much raw spiritual energy that would rip your body apart from the inside during the sealing process." The seemed to almost casually be explaining the function of all the shinobi present who had taken up their respective seats by this point. It was the lead shinobi who had greeted the genin first who began to form hand seals as the pair entered the room causing the spiritual door to seal shut now.

From this point forward their were only a few possibilities that could occur. The best course of action being the sealing would go well, the second being that the host would die during the process and that they would need to forcibly contain and seal away the genma, last was that the genma would crush the little girl's soul and take over her body completely which would require them to rip the spirit out killing her in the process. Even Zao couldn't help but mentally wonder if his instincts were right for the genin's well being. It was to late to stop now as he reached the center of the room where a circular stone slab about three meters across and a meter thick could be found.

"Set down here in the center and remove your shirt, I'll need to inscribe a series of fuuin upon your body." The man motioned to the stone slab as he half turn to see the genin in trace of him. She would be instructed to set directly in the center of the altar and afterwards them would start preparing for the sealing process...

[TyDie]

The intensity of the situation was overwhelming for Sakaki. She was so young, so naive, and she didn't understand why so many people twice her age were gathered here to do whatever was going on here. She didn't know what this 'Shishire' was, or what spirits were, or... well, any of it really. But she clung to the man's promise, the promise that whatever transpired here today would give her the tools she needed to make her mark on their great village and prove to them that she was worthy of them. She was worthy to protect them from the evils that lay out in the night. She smiled back at him as he clapped for her, a small blush of embarrassment crossing her face. "Thank you, Zao-sama. I'm so used to people seeing me as a little girl... I can do this."

She had to prove she wasn't a weakling. She could do this. She had to do this.

She watched the hand seals in awe as the man's chakra surged through the room. Out of the total hand seals he had done, she caught maybe 2 of them. Such speed! I could never hope to keep up with that! Just how good is this guy? Her thoughts were interrupted as the man proceeded to open the large stone door with his chakra, motioning her to follow him. Sakaki did as instructed, rising from her seat before following Zao into the large stone room. The scenery was unlike anything she had seen; the room was covered in seals, mats set up everywhere for various shinobi to man, and in the center a stone slab.

The words that Zao spoke, the process of what was happening and the explanation for why there were so many shinobi here... They did little to comfort her. "Zao-sama... What's a 'genma'? You've said that a couple of times now, and you're talking like it's a living thing... What exactly are you going to do to me?" Her breathing was getting shorter, a clear sign of fear, but she refused to let fear drive her out now... Not that she could leave if she wanted to, what with the door shutting behind her and such. All of the other shinobi were performing seals and assuming their places while Zao and Sakaki approached the stone slab, and once they were there, Zao asked her to remove her shirt.

Her mouth opened a bit in shock at the request, but the explanation made sense... Reluctantly she removed her shirt, revealing a simple bra underneath to conceal her essentials. With a slight shiver she would sit on the slab. "Okay Zao-sama... What now?"

[Zao]

"Genma...heh." The man let the single world slowly slip through his thin lip, genma...after a short pause while the young girl moved towards the center of the slab like altar he began to speak again now as he lifted his own foot to step up onto slab. "Before the shinobi rose up, everyone was like your average human. But in a time before history was fully recorded we were not the rulers of this land." The story itself was a rather long and violent tale of how the genma were like gods to mankind, rather harsh and sinister ones at that who though of all life as their slaves or subjects with little meaning or value attached to them. The white haired shinobi shook his head lightly from one side to the other before he continued to speak now reach out to grasp at the air beside him causing the space to twist and distort as he did so. "They were formerly the gods of our world before the shinobi arose to contest their rule. Most of the genma were harsh, violent rulers who considered human simple slaves and simple property instead of living things."

As he continued to speak to the small child before him the space that had distorted twisted now and a small hole in space-time opened up just large enough for one to place their arm through it. Which was just what Zao did as his slender arm reached into the hole and withdrew a small jar of ink with a pen brush sticking out of the top of it. The man didn't even bat an eye as the child removed her shirt as he moved to her back first as kept speaking with his calm voice as though he was casually chatting about the weather. "They ruled the world before the shinobi arose to fight against them, I'm sure that you can guess the end result of that war." The subject wasn't really something he wanted to dive into at a time like this but allowing for the genin to understand just what level of power the divine beast that were genma possessed was something she needed to attempt and comprehend. Soon, if all went well, she would become the wielder of a power seen no where else in the world. Holding the ink jar in the slender fingers of the left hand the finger of the right hand curled softly around the pen brush and without a warning the girl would feel the cool ink touch the spine in the direct center of her back.

"Please stay very still, it'll take me a few minute to inscribe the fuuin onto your back, arms, and shoulders." After the initial touch of the brush he paused, giving a bit of a late word of caution to the tiny figure before him as he needed to sit in a lotus position in order to be at the same level as the potential host. She would feel the brush as it made fluid movements across her skin, what she wasn't able to see was the level of skill in calligraphy that the middle aged man possessed as he started to bring to life a complicated diagram of his own design that he'd modified from the last sealing he'd helped with to improve its power. His knowledge in the art and science of fuuin probably at the very top of his own village and combining that with his high skill level of Tenku only helped to push his abilities when the two were combined for occasions like this. The man was able to draw and talk as though this was an action he'd done hundred of time..."As for Shigenma, the spirit you are about to meet...it is a rather snooty, self-important being. It views itself as much better than everything else, and is quite hypercritical anybody with whom it interacts. With a tendency to be rather shallow, while placing great importance on things such as appearances and reputations. When it finds something that it truly dislikes, it will go to great lengths to hurt it in any way possible, just out of spite. Holds grudges for quite a long time, especially against us shinobi and humans in general. Also, when the spirt comes across something that it is confident it is superior to, it will be playfully sadistic and sinister for the sake of its own amusement."

The man couldn't help but let a disgusted sigh slip from between the thin lips as he spoke about the Shigenma, if not for the truly earthshaking power over life and death that it held then the man would have simply sealed this arrogant and sinister beast away within his personal realm so that it could not longer have any influence over the human world. But, the village had spoken and he could only hope that this tiny, fragile looking little girl had the proper inner qualities to deal with the influences of the beast and gain control over its powers. He truly hoped that he would not need to be the one to take the life of the girl and remove the genma from her seal. By the time he finished speaking about genma and in particular the persona of the genma she was about to meet the man had fully covered the exposed skin on the girl's back, arms, shoulder, and base of her neck in complicated fuuin. Next he lifted his index finger up and bit the tip of it to draw blood, before using the pointer finger to inscribe a small seal at the base of her back that linked together with the other seals before infusing his chakra into this seal. The small seal acted as the base unit and contained a portion of his chakra to help draw in the beast initially before everything afterwards would be based on the sheer will power of Sakaki.

"That part is done, take a moment to clear your mind and calm your feelings. I'm going to retrieve our dark friend..." Giving the child a few moments to ready herself for the arduous task that was about to descend upon her the man formed a series of hand seals and then slashed his left hand across the space out in front of the genin. A maroon light shined through the slash in space as it expanded to reveal a realm of Tenku chakra with various chakra based and metal chains that were constricted around a one meter tall urn which itself had various inscriptions and paper seals placed upon it holding the lid down on the urn. "Release..." With a simple world the chains that were chakra based or real began to response to the verbal cue as they uncoiled from around the container allowing for it to float in mid air and as the man motioned with his hand it acted according to his will it seemed and floated out of the void into the spirit containment room they were within. Both of the man's hands took hold of the urn before the tear in space-time twisted and faded away to nothingness as Zao carefully set down the genma's containment pot. Taking a moment he used his own blood and chakra to inscribe a fuuin around the base of the urn on the smooth stone platform before finally stepping down off the platform himself. "Sakaki-chan, we are about to begin this ritual. The amount of help I can provide you once we begin will be minimum, restricted to words of advice as all out effort will be focused on controlling the raw power of the spirit itself, the success of the sealing will depend upon your own strength and will power. Life and death will be in your hands..."

Zao finally spoke as he took up a seated position near the platform as Tenku chakra began to visibly form around the platform as the masked shinobi from earlier took the lead in guiding the chorus of shinobi to form the exact same hand seals before linking their chakra together to form a powerful barrier that weakened and contained the genma spirit within it. Though even with this number of Tenku user's the chances of a successful sealing were still only around thirty to forty percent, as the last host picked by the council had failed and died in the process. Shaking the thought from his mind he awaited the word from the young girl that she was prepared to begin this as well...the last of his words holding an additional meaning for her. If she succeeded then the power of life and death would truly be within her hands...

[TyDie]

The girl listened with bated breath as Zao explained to her the history of the genma... A mixture of feelings overcame her as the explanations made clear what she was about to undergo. These beings ruled the world before recorded history, they subjugated humanity for hundreds of years, and their power is nigh incomparable. And now, in this dimly lit cavern, Zao was about to shove one of those beings into her body, and bind the two together. Was such a thing even possible? She had heard stories in the academy of the most powerful shinobi that Suna had produced, and of course the kazekage were spoken about and their incredible powers, but to imagine something like this was possible... What else could be done? What limits were there, if any, to the power of chakra?

"Wow... It's unreal. You're going to put... a god inside me?" She couldn't even pretend to understand just what Zao was planning, but whatever it was, she had already agreed to be a part of it. And if it meant serving Suna to the best of her abilities, she owed that to her homeland. The moment the brushed touched her back, a small 'eep' escaped her as she instinctively recoiled from the cold brush tip. Zao gave his instuction, and she reluctantly breathed in and out to relax. The man's description of Shishire and what she can expect to gain from it... and of course, the personality of the beast. Snooty, arrogant, petty... Sounded like a hell of a headache for such a young girl.

Now that the seal itself was done, the real struggle was about to begin. Zao reached through space into another portal, retrieving a jar covered with fuuinjutsu before performing a few more seals here and there and readying to release the beast inside. His words hung over her head, and her fears became greater... but there was one thing stronger than her fear; her determination. She took a few deep breaths to strengthen her resolve... And nodded her head with a firm grunt. "I've got this Zao-sama. I'm prepared... Let that thing out, I'm not afraid."

That was an outright lie, she was terrified. But courage wasn't about not being afraid, it was about squaring up in spite of you fears and moving through it to come out on the side. She was as ready as she could be.

[Zao]

"Not afraid?" Even the well discipline shinobi and scholar couldn't help but let out a light hearted laugh, easily able to see through the rookie shinobi's confident words but he managed to let a hint of a smile for on the left corner of his lips. This little child before him did have some spirit about her, hopefully he'd be able to watch her grow up in the future. The tip of his right index finger was still lightly bleeding as he used the blood as a medium to draw a simple fuuin symbol upon the left palm before both hands clapped together loudly to signal that it was time. A powerful Tenku based barrier arose around circular platform that contained the urn and the genin now as the others prepared to maintain this barrier while it was Zao's job to release and also help to contain and guide the spirit into the new host. The chakra of all those upon the prayer mats around the room linking up to his own in order to help him complete this draining task that was even dangerous to attempt with his own monstrous level of stamina.

"Then let us not doddle any longer..." The seasoned man had no need to hesitate any longer or attempt to postpone the inevitable now as the barrier began to have symbols forming upon its surface as its strength and effect on the genma would be increased by a fold in preparation. With a solemn look upon his face the white haired traveler began to rapidly form hand seals once again as the bloody palm was then pressed down into the hard stone floor causing for a rune that stretched across the entire platform to light up with a blood red light. This in turn reacted to the seals on the urn in front of Sakaki as the paper seals burst into flames and quickly tuned to ash and the seals that seemed to wind around the pot began to wiggle and then retracted their grasp upon the surface of the container back into a fuuin located on the front and back of the pot now. Without anything left to restrain the dark chakra beast within the pot the top of the urn suddenly burst off and slammed into the roof over twenty meters above their heads and a sinister chakra leaked from within the post.

Spilling out of it like a dark mist as the unique chakra from the genma flowed outwards and clashed against the barrier causing for it to lightly tremble at the action but it was unable to break free and continued to roll forth as it rose up in the barrier and surrounded the young girl. Even for the men protected on the outside of the barrier they could feel the strange chakra pulling ever so slightly at their own souls, it was a rather uncomfortable feeling and it was something Zao had dealt with first hand when he needed to recapture the spirit after the last host lost control completely succumbing to the demon within him. It was something that had made his soul tremble with fear and even not when he thought back to that battle he couldn't help but feel that this was almost like sacrificing another soul to the evil beast before him...hopefully that wouldn't be the case in the end. The eerie soulless mist began to rise up and condense into a skeletal looking beast with bone like horns twisting off to either side and skinny bone like arms and hands from which black stripes could be seen on the wrists as small crimson balls hung off of either wrist.

It turned its sinister gaze towards the white robed man outside, but the bannin paid the beast no mind as he was already forming a series of seals that would activate the actual sealing process and the fuuin diagrams which he'd had placed upon the young girl before hand. The spirit turned its gaze to the fragile youth beneath him and began to cackle loudly, was this truly suppose to be his host? Such a pitiful excuse for a shinobi...were these humans just trying to mock him now? This actually infuriated the beast who cast a soul chilling smile down upon the tiny child who was like an ant before his current form, even while being suppressed by the formation that was currently active around him. "Foolish traveler...what kind of joke is this? You bring such a sorry excuse for a host here before me? So plain and boring...perhaps when I tear out her soul and add it to my collection...her screams will help lighten the mood!" The persona of this evil beast was enough to make the man wish he could just exterminate it now as he finished his hand seals as the beast dove down towards the child with ever intent of tearing her soul from her body and shredding it into confetti to make his point known to these weak humans.

Just before he was able to reach the tiny female genin the blood seal on her back finally began to glow with the man's chakra as a series of Tenku based chains burst forth and went to clash with the beast. Being caught by surprise the beast was temporarily halted from directly attacking the child but this was the only means of physical support he could offer and it wouldn't last for to long. She needed to take this moment and use the seal that was actually spinning on her back that had started to passively draw in the residual chakra from the beast, but she would need to actively control the seal with her own will power in order to begin drawing in the beast itself. "I have given the chance, it is now or never to seize your destiny child...!" Droplets of sweat were beginning to form on the man's forehead and on his back as he was exerting a rather high level of chakra to attempt and restrain the beast to help now...but the girl needed to do her best to hurry at this point. This was a special technique that he could only use with the support of the additional chakra being funneled to him...

[TyDie]

Sakaki nodded in affirmation as Zao proclaimed that the ritual was about to begin, and now all she could do was prepare herself for whatever he was supposed to do. This Shishire... even before it appeared before her, she could feel it's presence in the pot. It was eerie, unnatural, and very, very powerful. Overwhelmingly so. The seals placed upon her body were made to allow her teeny body to contain the beast, but Zao had said she would have to press forward against this beast herself. She was... not confident. But she was ready, or as ready as she could be.

Suddenly the ritual began, with immense chakra pressure being felt throughout the room as everyone made their preparations and the barrier appeared around them. The top of the pot suddenly burst off as the fuuin dissolved, and the black mist that filled the barrier was almost suffocating, causing Sakaki to choke as dread overcame her. What was this feeling, this horrifying presence that threatened to suck the life right out of her... Was this the Shigenma Zao spoke of, Shishire? Her fears were confirmed as the skeletal, ephemeral being emerged from the pot and took shape, a long cloak of pure black chakra billowing behind it as it eyed Sakaki up and down like a cat playing with a mouse.

Evidently the fear was clear enough to the beast as well, as tears formed in her eyes when it spoke of tearing her soul from her body. But just before it reached her, just before her life was brought to an end, chains of chakra entrapped the beast within inches of her and Zao called out to her to assert her will... But how? How could she possibly exert any control over this beast? It was hopeless...

But then she saw the gaseous form of the beast being funneled around her body, flowing behind her and into her seal. She craned her next to observe as best she could, and sure enough the seal was all aglow with chakra as the Genma was slowly being sucked in... She could do this. Zao gave her the power to do this. She wasn't quite sure how she managed to do it, but she cracked a smile as she looked back at the former god of humanity and narrowed her eyes with fury. "You... You don't scare me, demon! You and yours already lost to us shinobi once, I learned it all from my friend here. And tonight, you lose again... You'll regret underestimating me!"

As she asserted herself, that fiery glare of hers pierced through the phantasmal creature's transparent form, looking for any sign of emotion from the beast... Though of course she saw none. However it was clear that the girl's seal was reacting favorably to her incredible passion; more and more of the black gas was being absorbed into the seal, which was spinning and glowing faster and brighter with each passing second.

[Zao]

'Good, she's able to embrace the feelings of fear and dread and even partially activate the will power seal that master left behind to help seal away the village's genma prisoners...but the absorption rates is still to slow...' The man had a gentle smirk form over his thin lips as the bright eyes of the shinobi were constantly calculating things as he took note that she had managed to understand that the seal's power was based on her own abilities and no one else. Not even Zao himself could effect that seal as it wasn't a jutsu of his own creation and instead something left by one of the founders of the village who was even more proficient in the fuuin arts than himself or his former master were. What a scary thought to consider just how powerful such a shinobi must have been during his lifetime. It was also true that she was able to increase the rate of intake by the seal but it was like using a cup to empty a lake as the sheer amount of chakra that filled the barrier was to immense to even calculate and the boney arms that had been bound by the powerful Tenku chains started to tremble.

The chains in return began to tremble as well, the genma was not such easy prey as to be contained for long by the spirit binding technique of Zao's...the young genin needed to pour all her heart and will into the blood seal in order to truly draw out the total power of the ancient marking. 'Damn it, Shishire is such a troublesome demon...' He couldn't help himself as he cursed inwardly, this was such a precise type of sealing that he needed to focus on continuously weakening the spirit's true strength or the girl wouldn't have a chance to fully pull in the spirit to her seal. "Constrict!" More chains suddenly burst from the seals on the ground around the platform as Zao's face started to turn slightly pale as he sacrificed a chunk of his personal chakra now to activate one of the trap mechanisms of the spirit sealing room. These chains were much thicker than the previous once which were breaking apart as the two skeletal hands smashed against the barrier clawing a set of finger like slashes through it. Even the shinobi on the outside of the barrier started to shake in fear as the creature had nearly broken out of the barrier but luckily the thicker chains managed to stop the powerful black chakra coated fingers from doing any more damage than they already had.

"My little friend, you must concentrate complete on the seal. If he manages to break free from these chains and escape the barrier many people will likely die before I can stop him..." A sharp set of words erupted from the normally calm and quiet man's mouth towards the genin, though this latest trap had stalled the demon, the powerful strike from the demon had destabilized the barrier and the dark chakra was attempting to escape through the holes created. Tendrils of smoke like chakra were snaking their way up and partially out of the containment barrier as Zao glanced over to his right arm and with a thought commanded his little spirit pet to act now. Hana was truly scared witless almost by the dense, demonic like chakra but was snapped back to reality as the words of her master ordering her into action helped to steady her thoughts. The tiny claw like hands mixed together with great speed and she lifted her rose bud like head up to spit out a long stream of sand that glowed with golden chakra, being controlled by her kinesis abilities now.

Hana's golden sand attached itself to the damaged side of the barrier and for the moment fought back against the powerful force of smoky chakra that was attempting to escape out into the room and attack the other shinobi and Zao who were trying to suppress it's owner. The current crisis had been adverted, at least for a short while as the demon fought back and cried out in fury at the shinobi and their petty tricks, the larger chains starting to tremble lightly now as well. If the genin was unable to seal the creature in time then the man's words to her would become a reality as he could not protect all of the shinobi present and also reseal the powerful spirit...

[TyDie]

The tears began to stream down Sakaki's face now, a mixture of fear and anger overcoming her as she grit her teeth against the beast before her. It's power was palpable, threatening to swallow both her and everyone else in the room in an instant if not for that barrier and the chains holding Shishire in place. It howled with fury and lashed out as best it could against all of the bindings arrayed against it, but the power of Zao's spiritual techniques were enough to hold it at bay with the help of the shinobi squad. But Zao's words tamed Sakaki's fury for a moment, and brought clarity to her in a moment of absolute need, as he was right; pure drive and fury was nothing if not tempered with control.

And so now she had to focus all of these emotions, all of the fear and anger and passion and uncertainty and everything in between that flowed through her. She had to funnel them through her, master them, and use their energy for the sole purpose of binding this creature to her. One last narrowed glare at Shishire was the last thing she remembered before closing her eyes and assuming a lotus position. To even attempt meditation at this point seemed futile to a sane person, but despite all of the chaos going on around her, and the threat of imminent death, Sakaki found peace and comfort in one thing; her mind.

---

All of the girl's senses seemed to fade to black, just as her sight had upon closing her eyes. The rage of Shishire, the pressure of it's presence, the feeling of dread... One by one they all vanished from her being as she focused on the one thing that had always been her anchor; Her Light. I know you will not let me fall to this darkness, great Light on high. All that is dark is unholy, but bathed by your wondrous Light I shall be redeemed and saved from this immense evil before me. I will turn it's profane power upon itself and use it's might for the betterment of Her Light. I will serve this village, which serves your splendor, with all that I have Great Light. On my life as a shinobi, Izanami Sakaki WILL NOT BE OVERCOME!

It was as though the warmth of the sun bathed her skin, the light shone through her eyelids, and in that moment every ounce of her being was guided towards a single point in her body; that seal.

---

Shishire thrashed and violently raked against anything it could, but to no avail; The young genin's newfound peace multiplied the speed of the sealing threefold. The overwhelming presence of the smoke began to thin, the creature's violent shrieks were slowly but surely dying down bit by bit. It was clear that, in only a few short moments, Shishire would be powerless to prevent the ritual from completion. The deed would be done.

[Zao]

The spirit's soulless eyes shifted down upon the child before him, she was so weak and pitiful looks as it appeared that his power and caused for fear and darkness to overcome the green shinobi's mind. How could they have put such a feeble piece of prey before him and expected for him to bow down in servitude to these humans? Even the powerful bannin who was constantly restricting his actions and attempts to break free from the sealing room was now strong enough in his eyes to respect let alone serve...but a child? This sent flames of anger and rage through the beast's core as it let out a powerful roar of some blood thirsty beast. It burst apart the sand which had been used to help seal up the holes in the barrier as the chakra lashed out strike a couple of the nearby shinobi knocking them flying against the wall as the barrier weakened due to the lose of the two masked men supporting it.

'Not good!' Zao had not expected for the beast to be able to release such a powerful physical attack that also mixed the ability to strike the souls of those it hit, rendering the two men unable to withstand the attack. What seemed like a simple attack had actually claimed the lives of the two men and it seemed that any other ones would be next in line to have their souls reaped by the devil in carmate before them. But instead the chains around its body started to weaken as well as it once more shifted its focus onto the small child before them. Yes, it would devour this child before the shinobi within this room and their was nothing that they could do but watch and see what their fates would also be after he finished this little snake and moved onto the main course which was them. All seemed lost and Zao was about to act to attack the beast himself, knowing that he could not save the little one at this point as what looked like flames of pure chakra surged off his body illuminating the somewhat dark room now as he drew back one hand only to freeze.

This was because he saw the seal upon the young girl's body physically change, this was something he'd never seen before...it was like a dam had broken loose from within the girl and the dark energy was being drawn into the seal and her body at an inconceivable rate. Was this a manifestation of the genin's will? Was it something more divine that was helping her accomplish this task? It truly left the middle aged man speechless and the raging chakra around his body started to die down at this point, the genma found itself powerless to fight back and was rapidly being drawn towards the seal even as it grasped at the barrier attempting to stop the suction power. Yet, all it did was briefly halt the advance before the fingers ripped through the barrier like paper and it was flung towards the seal cursing at Zao, Sakaki, and humanity in general now..."Has she done it?"

[TyDie]

Once the seal had been fully activated by Sakaki's willpower, it took nary a few seconds for the fuuinjutsu to perform it's duties. In a matter of moments, the god of death, master of souls, had vanished from the room, along with any sign of it having ever been there except for the pot it had arrived in. The shinobi struck by the raging genma were of course dead, tragic as it was, but that was to be expected of Shishire... Few sealings had been done with her that didn't end up in at least one fatality. Once it was all over and done with, Sakaki seemed to awaken for a moment from her stupor, her eyes fluttering open as the extreme exhaustion of the entire even finally registered with her.

She had done it. Shishire no Shigenma, the Phantom Beast of Souls, was now trapped within her body.

Zao would notice immediately that the young girl's eyes had darkened already, the usual white sclerae turned black by the spirit's influence. And one look at her hands would show her the black bands that wrapped around her wrists, like thick tattoos; another of Shishire's known physical changes. Despite all of this, her breath wasn't labored or shaky; she seemed oddly okay, as if by a miracle. "It... It's over... I won Zao. I won." A smile briefly crossed her face as the young girl spoke softly of her hard earned victory over the former god.

The victory would be short lived however, as almost immediately after her eyes glazed over and her head became light. What happened next, she was completely unaware of, but everyone in that room would watch as she simply fell backwards and stopped moving, completely and totally unconscious as the last of her energy was spent. A quick finger to the throat would show a steady pulse, albeit weak and slow, but stable. Yes, Sakaki had overcome the sealing of Shishire and emerged on the other side the next Jinchuuriki of the genma of souls.

She could not even begin to fathom how much harder things would get now... The sealing would seem like a walk in the park in time. The easy part was over...

[Zao]

"She did it..." The man's fury of chakra faded completely as the demon was washed from the world by the seal and bound in the body of the frail looking genin before him, the man could only speak aloud to himself at the moment and exhale a long, slow breath out to calm his mind. Soon the tiny genin before him fell backwards into unconsciousness as the barrier itself shattered from the damage caused by the flailing spirit as it was dragged into its fate of being tied to Sakaki. With a simple movement the man seemed to disappear and reappear knelt at the girl's side, his hand hovered briefly over the barely covered chest of the child allowing for him to utilize his medical expertise to quickly assess the new host's state. 'Good, only exhausted...'

With a sigh of relief he then turned his attention towards he other shinobi who were assessing the two men against the wall, but the lead man who had greet Sakaki when she had arrived pulled off his mask to reveal a youthful face that had a sorrowful look. "Zao-sama, the life has already faded from their bodies..." It was words of harsh reality that washed over the room as some sobbing could faintly be heard from a few scattered spots in the large room. Sealings were dangerous for more than just the host and this was a risk all of those within the room knew and accepted prior to entering, but it was still a hard pill to swallow. "Wrap up the host, I'll be taking her back..." Shaking his head the man stepped down off the platform and spoke to the masked shinobi pair who had been closest to him as they immediately responded to the orders retrieving a small blanket that they wrapped the genin in.

The others parted as the white robbed figure moved slowly across the room to access the pair himself, only to shake his head once more as he spoke aloud to the head Tenku user..."They are truly beyond what medical ninjutsu can fix..." Closing his eyes the man's body came alive with chakra as both his hands meshed together with one another in a blur of hand seals now...they had been willing to sacrifice their lives for this village and to build a stronger future with the new host. This was something that the village protector could not let simply have been done in vain as he called upon his skill in space-time. Chakra leaked from his body into the area around the two men now as the flow of time began to come to a halt before the man gritted his teeth attempting to reverse the flow of the world...to go against that which was natural in life...death! Though the powerful [Erase Time: Death] technique the man pushed himself to the very limit as he forcibly corrected time to his wish and brought back the shinobi from the dead.

Many were shocked and others unable to speak, this was something that while grand in its intent was also something the truly went against the natural laws of the world and something that they weren't sure would be approved of by 'The Light' which they worshiped with such zeal and respect. But before they could even speak the man himself spoke up..."What I've done today for these men can not be spoken of to anyone..." Zao had to pause his words in order to catch his breath as the man appeared even more pale than before...to go against nature was something that required quite the sacrifice from himself in order to do so. A golden vine extended from the left forearm which it had been hidden this whole time within the wide sleeve to help support its master as the man turned and walked slowly back to the two men who had been taking care of Sakaki. "...everyone should take their leave." As the man placed his hand on the sleeping girl he withdrew a kunai from the holster on his left thigh and warped himself through space back to a kunai that had been place near the girl's home.

Without a sound the young girl would find herself placed back within her own bed to rest as the man took off a golden bracelet with a bright blue gemstone wound into the gold. It was a special piece of space-time jewelry that could be used by the new host to notify Zao if she was ever in trouble and it would also act as a marker for him to teleport through space directly to her if needed. Placing it on her right wrist the man smiled before leaving the home quietly. He didn't even have the chakra to use his space-time techniques and simply walked back home through the dimly lit streets as the hints of sunlight could be seen off to the east. It was the dawn of a new day...'The light...'